DOCSLIB.ORG

Murasaki Shikibu: a Reign of One Thousand Years Christine Cousins

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Murasaki Shikibu: a Reign of One Thousand Years Christine Cousins Murasaki Shikibu: A Reign of One Thousand Years Christine Cousins Genji, the Shinning Prince, is a master of painting, music, calligraphy, and poetry, and as such would surely have recognized the mastery in Murasaki Shikibu's writing. The success of Murasaki's fictional Tale of Genji over the next thousand years, as demonstrated by the ten thousand books on the subject by the 1960s, cannot simply be the result of the peculiarity of a woman writer.1 Indeed, the evolution of literature during the Heian time period and its connections to Chinese influences contributed to a phenomenon in which woman were the predominant literary producers.2 A component of Genji's success can be attributed to Murasaki's innovative use of literary form through the previously unknown novel, but even one thousand years later, when the novel is not revolutionary, the work is still part of Japanese culture. Murasaki's execution in writing her work is another necessary component to Genji's success, since her skill in portraying the complex interconnections of the Heian period, as well as her plot and characters, underlie the tale’s merit. People have found value in this work for centuries, but Genji's legacy can be distinctly seen in the significance it has accrued in Murasaki's country during times of increasing modernization and Western influence. Translations of the tale into modern Japanese, including those by Yosano Akiko, preserve a national identity, particularly as it relates to literature and culture. Murasaki utilized the opportunities available to her as a woman in the Heian period to create a master work that would, over the course of a thousand years, influence the very form of culture in Japan. The Heian period received its name from the capital city whose creation marked the beginning of the period, Heian Kyō, the City of Peace and Tranquility.3 The Heian period is a remarkably long span of time, from about two years prior to the city's foundation in 794 to 1167, but it is the late Heian, from about 967-1167 into 1 Ivan Morris, The World of the Shinning Prince (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1978), 276. 2 Ibid., 200. 3 Ibid., 2. 4 which Murasaki was born, somewhere around the year 973.4 By Murasaki's time, the Heian had "reached a high cultural standard," though this standard was held by only the elite.5 Painting, music, and, of course, literature were valuable to this society in which "artistic sensibility was more highly valued than ethical goodness."6 Literature in particular developed in a distinctive manner through the Heian period due to the large scale of integration of Chinese culture. In the eighth century during the Nara period "every aspect of Chinese culture was avidly adopted."7 By the ninth century, however, this adoption was much more selective on the part of the Japanese, and by Murasaki's time the relationship between Japan and China was primarily that of past influences.8 A classical education in Chinese was still crucial to culture and scholarship, however, as Chinese remained the language of scholars and official practices.9 Kana had been developed as the phonetic transcription of Japanese, and allowed writing in vernacular Japanese.10 This had a peculiar effect on woman and their relationship to writing and literature, since Chinese "became the exclusive domain of the male," and kana became the domain of the female.11 Women were discouraged from learning the Chinese characters, and therefore they turned to vernacular Japanese.12 This effected the genres in which they wrote, for though women wrote poetry as part of daily Heian communication, much of the prose work that they completed were historical romances or regarded the private sphere.13 The diary became a prominent vessel for women to express and write about the spheres which were familiar to them,14 but it was 4 Ibid., 3; Richard Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 4. 5 Morris, Shinning Prince, 170. 6 Ibid., 195. 7 Ibid., 6. 8 Ibid., 9-10. 9 Ibid., 200. 10 Ibid. 11 Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji, 10. 12 Roselee Bundy, "Japan's First Woman Diarist and the Beginnings of Prose Writings by Women in Japan," Women's Studies 19, no. 1 (1991): 81. 13 Ibid. 14 Ibid., 94. 5 not a diary as might be imagined today.15 Women's diaries in the Heian period often differed from those of men in that they were not a description of day to day events, but rather a collection of reminiscences and personal moments or thoughts, often reflected from later points of distance.16 Women were seen as the primary literary producers of such genres to such an extent that men who wished to write diaries in the phonetic script might even use a female pseudonym.17 It is within this landscape of literature that Murasaki learned and wrote, and it was this landscape that shaped both the content and the form of her work. Within this literary landscape it is also important to note that Murasaki's circumstances were those of aristocratic women, who though possessing leisure time and education, still faced certain structured social roles. Additionally, many of the notable women and literary producers from the late Heian period were ladies in waiting at an Empress' court, where they enjoyed certain advantages.18 Women outside of active court service faced greater restrictions, generally being confined indoors or behind a screen of state, and were not allowed to show herself to men other than her husband or father.19 Aristocratic women were also still subject to a rigorous structure of marriage politics, which included the further complications of polygamy and different tiers of acceptable marriages.20 Principal wives were often arranged due to political and economic importance between participants of similar class, while secondary wives or concubines, such as Genji's young Murasaki, were still formal and publically accepted. Casual affairs were not only accepted, but part of a man's prestige, and carried out in a highly structured and proper manner.21 In many aspects Murasaki was typical for the female author of the time who took advantage of the genres and writing available to her. Murasaki also wrote a diary and poetic memoirs, and parts of 15 Richard Bowring, "Introduction," in Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs, Murasaki Shikibu, trans. Richard Bowring (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1982), 19. 16 Ibid. 17 Morris, Shinning Prince, 200. 18 Ibid., 44. 19 Ibid., 210. 20 Ibid., 207. 21 Bundy, "Japan's First Woman Diarist," 218; Ibid., 220-225. 6 these texts are still accessible to this day, despite some difficulty ascertaining their order and state of completion.22 While these authorial feats place her within the common structure of aristocratic Heian women who were literate and possessed the leisure time to write, the diary is also often used to examine a life of a woman about whom very little is actually known.23 The actual name of Murasaki Shikibu is one such unknown fact; the name Murasaki come from a nickname based on the character of Genji's favored lover, and the name Shikibu comes from her father's title.24 There is general agreement that Murasaki was part of a strong literary tradition from her father and grandfather, and was even exceptional in that she knew the Chinese characters.25 She records in her diary that she learned the language from listening in on her brother's lessons, though she also describes the secrecy and occasional shame she felt at this knowledge.26 Murasaki was not unusual in her role as the female author of Genji, but rather in the Chinese, or the male, knowledge she possessed. Murasaki documents in her diary a moment when His Majesty remarks upon hearing Genji read aloud that Murasaki must be learned, perhaps even having read the Chronicles of Japan, and a woman defames Murasaki by saying she was "flaunting [her] learning."27 The Chronicles as history would have represented a realm of knowledge not normally available to women, one that would move Murasaki from her accepted realm into the male sphere where she could be subjected to censure. Her life, regarding both her writing and her experiences, was defined by the structures of the court. Despite her relation to the dominant Fujiwara clan she was far from the seat of actual power, even after her marriage to Fujiwara no Nobutaka in 998.28 Murasaki bore him one daughter, but was 22 Richard Bowring, "Murasaki Shikibu," in Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs, Murasaki Shikibu, trans. Richard Bowring (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1982), 3. 23 Bundy, "Japan's First Woman Diarist," 81; Bowring, "Murasaki Shikibu," 3. 24 Ibid., 12. 25 Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji, 4. 26 Murasaki Shikibu, Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs, trans. Richard Bowring (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1982), 138. 27 Shikibu, Her Diary and Poetic Memoirs, 137. 28 Bowring, Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji, 4. 7 widowed soon after in 1001, and it was likely here during her widowhood that she began writing Genji.29 About five years after her husband's death, Murasaki entered service with Empress Shōshi as a companion and tutor, but even when describing in her diary her study of Chinese with the Empress there is a sense of secrecy to the work.30 It is not the discovery by the men, who actually gave the two women books to learn from, that was worrisome, but discovery by the other waiting women who could have continued the gossip that Murasaki already experienced.31 Murasaki's absence on a list of Shōshi's ladies in waiting in 1031 is used as a probable marker of her death, though she could have passed away several years before this point.32 Until her death the literary values of the Heian period shaped Murasaki's life through her ability to write, but also impacted her learning and were deeply intertwined with social conventions.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Katsushika Hokusai and a Poetics of Nostalgia
    ACCESS: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN EDUCATION 2015, VOL. 33, NO. 1, 33–46 https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2014.964158 Katsushika Hokusai and a Poetics of Nostalgia David Bell College of Education, University of Otago ABSTRACT KEYWORDS This article addresses the activation of aesthetics through the examination of cultural memory, Hokusai, an acute sensitivity to melancholy and time permeating the literary and ukiyo-e, poetic allusion, nostalgia, mono no aware pictorial arts of Japan. In medieval court circles, this sensitivity was activated through a pervasive sense of aware, a poignant reflection on the pathos of things. This sensibility became the motivating force for court verse, and ARTICLE HISTORY through this medium, for the mature projects of the ukiyo-e ‘floating world First published in picture’ artist Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai reached back to aware sensibilities, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2015, Vol. 47, No. 6, subjects and conventions in celebrations of the poetic that sustained cultural 579–595 memories resonating classical lyric and pastoral themes. This paper examines how this elegiac sensibility activated Hokusai’s preoccupations with poetic allusion in his late representations of scholar-poets and the unfinished series of Hyakunin isshu uba-ga etoki, ‘One hundred poems, by one hundred poets, explained by the nurse’. It examines four works to explain how their synthesis of the visual and poetic could sustain aware themes and tropes over time to maintain a distinctive sense of this aesthetic sensibility in Japan. Introduction: Mono no aware How can an aesthetic sensibility become an activating force in and through poetic and pictorial amalgams of specific cultural histories and memories? This article examines how the poignant aesthetic sensibility of mono no aware (a ‘sensitivity to the pathos of things’) established a guiding inflection for social engagements of the Heian period (794–1185CE) Fujiwara court in Japan.
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese Aesthetics and the Tale of Genji Liya Li Department of English SUNY/Rockland Community College [email protected] T
    Japanese Aesthetics and The Tale of Genji Liya Li Department of English SUNY/Rockland Community College [email protected] Table of Contents 1. Themes and Uses 2. Instructor’s Introduction 3. Student Readings 4. Discussion Questions 5. Sample Writing Assignments 6. Further Reading and Resources 1. Themes and Uses Using an excerpt from the chapter “The Sacred Tree,” this unit offers a guide to a close examination of Japanese aesthetics in The Tale of Genji (ca.1010). This two-session lesson plan can be used in World Literature courses or any course that teaches components of Zen Buddhism or Japanese aesthetics (e.g. Introduction to Buddhism, the History of Buddhism, Philosophy, Japanese History, Asian Literature, or World Religion). Specifically, the lesson plan aims at helping students develop a deeper appreciation for both the novel and important concepts of Japanese aesthetics. Over the centuries since its composition, Genji has been read through the lenses of some of the following terms, which are explored in this unit: • miyabi (“courtly elegance”; refers to the aristocracy’s privileging of a refined aesthetic sensibility and an indirectness of expression) • mono no aware (the “poignant beauty of things;” describes a cultivated sensitivity to the ineluctable transience of the world) • wabi-sabi (wabi can be translated as “rustic beauty” and sabi as “desolate beauty;” the qualities usually associated with wabi and sabi are austerity, imperfection, and a palpable sense of the passage of time. • yûgen (an emotion, a sentiment, or a mood so subtle and profoundly elegant that it is beyond what words can describe) For further explanation of these concepts, see the unit “Buddhism and Japanese Aesthetics” (forthcoming on the ExEAS website.) 2.
    [Show full text]
  • A COMPARISON of the MURASAKI SHIKIBU DIARY and the LETTER of ABUTSU Carolina Negri
    Rivista degli Studi Orientali 2017.qxp_Impaginato 26/02/18 08:37 Pagina 281 REFERENCE MANUALS FOR YOUNG LADIES-IN-WAITING: A COMPARISON OF THE MURASAKI SHIKIBU DIARY AND THE LETTER OF ABUTSU Carolina Negri The nature of the epistolary genre was revealed to me: a form of writing devoted to another person. Novels, poems, and so on, were texts into which others were free to enter, or not. Letters, on the other hand, did not exist without the other person, and their very mission, their signifcance, was the epiphany of the recipient. Amélie Nothomb, Une forme de vie The paper focuses on the comparison between two works written for women’s educa- tion in ancient Japan: The Murasaki Shikibu nikki (the Murasaki Shikibu Diary, early 11th century) and the Abutsu no fumi (the Letter of Abutsu, 1263). Like many literary docu- ments produced in the Heian (794-1185) and in the Kamakura (1185-1333) periods they describe the hard life in the service of aristocratic fgures and the difculty of managing relationships with other people. Both are intended to show women what positive ef- fects might arise from sharing certain examples of good conduct and at the same time, the inevitable negative consequences on those who rejected them. Keywords: Murasaki Shikibu nikki; Abutsu no fumi; ladies-in.waiting; letters; women’s education 1. “The epistolary part” of the Murasaki Shikibu Diary cholars are in agreement on the division of the contents of Murasaki Shikibu nikki (the Murasaki Shikibu Diary, early 11th century) into four dis- Stinct parts. The frst, in the style of a diary (or an ofcial record), presents events from autumn 1008 to the following New Year, focusing on the birth of the future heir to the throne, Prince Atsuhira (1008-1036).
    [Show full text]
  • The Reflection of the Concept of Marriage of Heian Japanese Aristocracy Revealed in Murasaki Shikibu's
    PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI THE REFLECTION OF THE CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE OF HEIAN JAPANESE ARISTOCRACY REVEALED IN MURASAKI SHIKIBU’S THE TALE OF GENJI AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By YUNITA PRABANDARI Student Number: 084214081 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2015 PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI THE REFLECTION OF THE CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE OF HEIAN JAPANESE ARISTOCRACY REVEALED IN MURASAKI SHIKIBU’S THE TALE OF GENJI AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters By YUNITA PRABANDARI Student Number: 084214081 ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2015 ii PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI iii PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI iv PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI v PLAGIATPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TIDAK TERPUJI TERPUJI LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma Nama : Yunita Prabandari Nomor Mahasiswa : 084214081 Demi pengembangan ilmu
    [Show full text]
  • Ordinary Women: Murasaki Shikibu
    ActivityORDINARY WOMEN: Sheet MURASAKI SHIKIBU SUMMARY STOPPING POINTS/VIDEO BREAKDOWN “In 10th century Japan, literary prodigy 0:25 Introduction to Murasaki Murasaki Shikibu wrote the first modern 0:45 A cloistered world novel at a time when women’s names 1:00 Literate background were rarely even written down.” 1:30 Tale of Genji “The Tale of Genji is often considered the 1:55 Multifaceted female characters first modern novel because Murasaki 2:30 Issues of fame offered readers not just a chronicle of 2:50 History of women writing events, but deep psychological insight into the characters and their inner lives. Her story made history because it was more than just a story: It was a complex literary portrait of what it means to be human.” DISCUSSION QUESTIONS & THEMES 1. Murasaki Shikibu was born to an aristocratic Japanese family around 970, when aristocratic women were kept hidden from society and “shielded from public view”. Although this practice is not commonplace today, how might we compare contemporary times and phenomena to that of Shikibu’s experience in an “intensely cloistered world”? For example, comparing the still-present and highly problematic societal expectation that women stay at home and give up careers in order to raise a family. 2. Consider her father’s response to Shikibu’s literary talents: “Just my luck. What a pity she was not born a man.” Why would he have reacted this way? How else can we identify a favouring of sons in contemporary cultures throughout the world? 3. Although about a male character, Shikibu’s novel offers valuable insight into what it was like to be a woman in her time through the presence of “multifaceted female characters.” How do novels and other works of art help us begin to understand the experiences of others? 4.
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese Studies Review, Vol. XX (2016), Pp
    ISSN: 1500-0713 ______________________________________________________________ Article Title: Performing Prayer, Saving Genji, and Idolizing Murasaki Shikibu: Genji Kuyō in Nō and Jōruri Author(s): Satoko Naito Source: Japanese Studies Review, Vol. XX (2016), pp. 3-28 Stable URL: https://asian.fiu.edu/projects-and-grants/japan-studies- review/journal-archive/volume-xx-2016/naito-satoko- gkuyojoruri_jsr.pdf ______________________________________________________________ PERFORMING PRAYER, SAVING GENJI, AND IDOLIZING MURASAKI SHIKIBU: GENJI KUYŌ IN NŌ AND JŌRURI1 Satoko Naito University of Maryland, College Park Introduction The Murasaki Shikibu daraku ron [lit. “Story of Murasaki Shikibu’s Fall] tells that after her death Murasaki Shikibu (d. ca. 1014) was cast to hell.2 The earliest reference is found in Genji ipponkyō [Sutra for Genji] (ca. 1166), which recounts a Buddhist kuyō (dedicatory rite) performed on her behalf, with the reasoning that the Heian author had been condemned to eternal suffering in hell for writing Genji monogatari [The Tale of Genji] (ca. 1008). Though Genji ipponkyō makes no explicit claim to the efficacy of the kuyō, its performance is presumably successful and saves the Genji author. In such a case the earliest extant utterance of the Murasaki-in-hell story is coupled with her subsequent salvation, and the Genji author, though damned, is also to be saved.3 It may be more accurate, then, to say that the Murasaki Shikibu daraku ron is about Murasaki Shikibu’s deliverance, rather than her fall (daraku). Through the medieval period and beyond, various sources recounted the execution of kuyō rites conducted for The Tale of Genji’s author, often initiated and sponsored by women.4 Such stories of Genji kuyō 1 Author’s Note: I thank those who commented on earlier versions of this paper, in particular D.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Emaki
    Introduction to Emaki The emakimono or emaki is a horizontal illustrated narrative scroll that is distinctly Japanese. Its predecessors originated in India and, along with Buddhism, came to Japan through China. Scrolls were used to depict stories of historical events, provide religious commentary, illustrate works of fiction and poetry, or serve as a form of creative expression for the artist. Scrolls were most often made of paper or occasionally from silk. They were attached to a wooden dowel at the left end and then rolled up for storage on shelves or in boxes. The story or narrative was read by unrolling the scroll a little at a time, from right to left, like Japanese is written. Japanese is traditionally written in vertical lines from right to left so the format of scrolls, with the text alternating with pictures, was a format compatible with Japanese writing conventions. The scenes developed in movie-like fashion, unrolling the narrative for the viewer. After the scroll was viewed, it was rolled up. Pictures were drawn with ink, painted, or stamped. The ink or water-soluble colors were applied with animal-hair brushes. There was no way to correct a mistake or to repaint, as can be done with oil or acrylic paint. Planning ahead was important; because painting was done on the spot, the result was a spontaneity and freshness to the work. Work was intense because a single brush stroke could ruin a scroll. Scrolls were generally 8 to 20 inches in height and could reach up to 60 feet in length. A story could take from one to as many as ten scrolls.
    [Show full text]
  • The Disaster of the Third Princess
    6. Two Post-Genji Tales on The Tale of Genji Two roughly late twelfth century works represent a transition in the reception of The Tale of Genji. The first, Genji shaku by Sesonji Koreyuki (d. 1175), begins the long line of scholarly commentaries that are still being written today.1 The second, Mumyōzōshi (ca. 1200, attributed to Shunzei’s Daughter), can perhaps be said to round off the preceding era, when Genji was simply a monogatari (tale) among others, enjoyed above all by women. In contrast with Koreyuki’s textual glosses, Mumyōzōshi gives passionate reader responses to characters and incidents in several monogatari, including Genji. The discovery of something like it from much earlier in the preceding two hundred years would be very welcome. Fortunately, some evidence of earlier reader reception survives after all, not in critical works, but in post-Genji tales themselves. Showing as they do demonstrable Genji influence, they presumably suggest at times, in one way or another, what the author made of Genji, or how she understood this or that part of it. This essay will discuss examples from Sagoromo monogatari (ca. 1070–80, by Rokujō no Saiin Senji, who served the Kamo Priestess Princess Baishi)2 and Hamamatsu Chūnagon monogatari (ca. 1060, attributed to the author of Sarashina nikki). Chief among them are the meaning of the chapter title “Yume no ukihashi”; the question of what happens to Ukifune between “Ukifune” and “Tenarai”; and the significance of Genji’s affair with Fujitsubo. Discussion of these topics, especially the second, will hark back at times to material presented in earlier essays, although this time with a different purpose.
    [Show full text]
  • Dying in Two Dimensions: Genji Emaki and the Wages of Depth Perception
    R EGINALD J ACKS ON Dying in Two Dimensions: Genji emaki and the Wages of Depth Perception !e Gotō Museum’s “Yomigaeru Genji monogatari emaki” exhibit of – was an ambitious attempt to “resurrect” (yomigaeru) the museum’s legendary illus- trated handscrolls of !e Tale of Genji (the Genji monogatari emaki) by analyz- ing the flaking, faded twelfth-century scrolls scientifically and having artists paint a series of new, more polished and more vibrant but ostensibly “faithful” copies to be exhibited alongside the originals. In its apparent attempt to make the scrolls more accessible and appealing to modern audiences, the exhibit was nothing less than an attempt to produce a contemporary viewing public in relation to art of the Heian period (–).¹ But such a desire to consoli- date the audience’s impressions of the artwork does away with facets of the scrolls that might endanger the construction of a unified viewership. In par- ticular, the refabrication of the scrolls strategically excludes the narrative cal- ligraphic kotobagaki sections that in fact compose the lion’s share of the extant Genji scrolls, effectively severing an intimate bond between narrative text and narrative image. Even more significantly, the redacted reproduction fails to account for the calligraphic performance of dying that figures so prominently in the climatic deathbed scenes of the Tale of Genji protagonists Kashiwagi and Murasaki no Ue. In this article, I would like to consider some of the potential 150 implications of this omission. My primary goal will be to think through the spatial and temporal dimensions of artistic representations of death in rela- tion to the composition—and decomposition—of the Genji emaki.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cross-Cultural Comparison of the Tale of Genji and a Dream of Red Mansions
    Volume 5, No. 2-3 24 The Cross-cultural Comparison of The Tale of Genji and A Dream of Red Mansions Mengmeng ZHOU Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China; Email: [email protected] Abstract: The Tale of Genji, and A Dream of Red Mansions are the classic work of oriental literature. The protagonists Murasaki-no-ue and Daiyu, as the representatives of eastern ideal female images, reflect the similarities and differences between Japanese culture and Chinese culture. It is worthwhile to elaborate and analyze from cross-cultural perspective in four aspects: a) the background of composition; b）the psychological character; c) the cultural aesthetic orientation; and d）value orientation. Key Words: Murasaki-no-ue; Daiyu; cross-cultural study 1. THE BACKGROUND OF COMPOSITION The Tale of Genji, is considered to be finished in its present form between about 1000 and 1008 in Heian-era of Japan. The exact time of final copy is still on doubt. The author Murasaki Shikibu was born in a family of minor nobility and a member the northern branch of the Fujiwara clan. It is argued that her given name might have been Fujiwara Takako. She had been a maid of honor in imperial court. As a custom in imperial court, the maid of honor was given an honorific title by her father or her brother‘s position. ―Shikibu‖ refers to her elder brother‘s position in the Bureau of Ceremony (shikibu-shō).―Murasaki‖ is her nickname, which is called by the readers, after the character Murasaki-no-ue in The Tale of Genji.
    [Show full text]
  • Japanese Literature and Poetry of the Heian Period Sei Shōnagon - Makura No Sōshi and Murasaki Shikibu - Genji Monogatari
    Humanities 1B Lindahl Japanese Literature and Poetry of the Heian period Sei Shōnagon - Makura no sōshi and Murasaki Shikibu - Genji Monogatari (from last time) Japanese forms of Buddhim, Zen Bushido – “the way of the warrior” The Martial Arts: Budo – the way of war (Kendo, Kyodo, Judo, Aikido) Beyond combat – Buddhism and Art (mono no aware and the sakura) Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) Woodblock print of Miyomoto Musashi by Utagawa Kuniyoshi Self-Portrait, Miyomoto Musashi, 1640, Miyomoto Musashi – Shrike on a Withered Branch (1640ish) The Golden Pavilion of Rokuon-ji (Kinkaku), Kyoto, 1390 CE Tsukiyama – landscape garden Kare-sansui - dry garden (sometimes “zen garden”) Zen Garden, Ryoanji Temple, Kyoto, 15th c., Garden, Daisen-in Temple, Kyoto, 1513 Chaniwa – tea garden, Chado – the way of tea Wa = harmony, Kei – respect, Sei – purity, jaku – tranquility Tea Bowl (called "U-no-hana-gaki"), Shinoware, 3 2/3" 16th c., Tea bowl "mine-no-momiji" Kado – the way of flower arranging (Ikebana) Heian Period and/or Fujiwara Period (794-1158 CE), Heian-Kyo / Kyoto Literature and Poetry in 11th c. Kyoto Writing – Kana/Hiragana, The "Heian aesthetic" – “mujokan” and “mono no aware” Sei Shōnagon (966- sometime after 1017) Makura no sōshi – The Pillow Book Empress Teishi (977-1000) Kokinshū and the form of the Waka (57577) and Haiku (575) Shodo – the way of brush writing (Calligraphy) The Thirty-six Immortal Poets Scroll - Lady Kodai no kimi, color on paper, 13th c. Fujiwara Nobuzane Page from the Anthology of the Thirty-Six Poets, Nishi Honangan-ji, 12th c. Page from the Anthology of the Thirty-Six Poets, Sanjuroku-nin Kashu, fragment from the Ise-shu, ink on colored paper, 12th c.
    [Show full text]
  • Il Genji Monogatari 源氏物語
    IL GENJI MONOGATARI 源氏物語 1008, Murasaki Shikibu 紫式部 STRUTTURA DELL’OPERA Perdita del manoscritto originale, ma circolazione di sezioni dell’opera sin dagli anni di composizione Versione definitiva del testo: Fujiwara no Teika, tardo dodicesimo secolo (codice Aobyōshi ): 54 capitoli, che includono prosa e 795 waka (opera più lunga della storia della narrativa giapponese) • Capitoli 1-41: avventure amorose di Hikaru Genji 光 源氏 (Genji lo splendente) (1-33: giovinezza) • Capitoli 42-54: “eredi” di Genji, Kaoru Chūjō 薫中將 e Niou no miya 匂の宮 (con 3 capitoli di transizione) Non è certo se questi fossero la divisione/ordine originari (n.b.: pratica del “rizoma”) ALTRE PROBLEMATICHE FILOLOGICHE Problema del titolo: • compare come Genji no Monogatari nel Murasaki Shikibu Nikki • testi più tardi riportano anche le varianti Hikaru Genji Monogatari e Murasaki no Monogatari . Esistono varianti anche dei titoli dei capitoli: • Quelli “standard” sono ricavati da elementi chiave del capitolo stesso • È probabile che inizialmente fossero privi di titolo o indicati con un numero STILE Uso e nuova codifica del wabun Base: lingua colloquiale dell’aristocrazia di Heian, trasformata in lingua letteraria e poetica Vocabolario ristretto Commistione con la poesia • Uso di citazioni poetiche in prosa (attraverso parafrasi o allusioni: pratica dello hikiuta 引歌) Modello per la lingua letteraria di tutta la produzione narrativa successiva. Altri elementi stilistici che caratterizzano l’opera (e fanno da modello per la narrativa successiva) Ricchezza di
    [Show full text]